Since the beginning of the global pandemic, trends have come and gone, from new TikTok dances to making foamed coffee. One trend — growing, selling, and cultivating microgreens — has put down firm roots in Ottawa.
“When I first started, there was one other microgreen producer in the Ottawa area, but now there’s three big guys, seven medium guys, and 50 little guys,” said Jace Baart, a local microgreen store owner and farmer.
Microgreens are small, edible vegetables that can be grown in a week to 21 days. They fall in between a sprout and and a baby green. Similar to baby greens, the stem and leaves are edible; however, they are smaller and take longer to grow than a sprout. Though the vegetables are one-to-three inches tall, they are said to have nutritional benefits, from vitamins to antioxidants.
With microgreens, “you’re getting the most nutritious food… with a really low carbon footprint,” said Baart. They’re also considered by many to be better for the environment than some more traditional foods. “Microgreens are more sustainable than crops grown to maturity on large industrial farms that use pesticides and chemicals as inputs and are often transported hundreds of miles to market,” according to an article in GroCycle.
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